MONKEY ISLAND 2: LECHUCK'S REVENGE

'''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge''' (''MI2'') is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It was the second game of the ''Monkey Island'' series, following ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', and the sixth LucasArts game to use the SCUMM engine. It was the first game to use the iMUSE sound system, and Michael Land was again responsible for producing the music for the game.
The game's story centers on the wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood. After defeating ghost pirate LeChuck in ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', little is known of what happened between Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley. The sequel involves Guybrush's attempts to both find the mysterious treasure, Big Whoop, and win back Elaine's love.
The development team for the game was largely the same as for ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', the first game in the series. The project was lead by Ron Gilbert, and he was once more joined by Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. ''MI2'' is considered by critics to be among the best of LucasArts' adventure games. Despite its popularity, its ambiguous and surrealistic ending drew criticism.

Contents

Gameplay

Plot

Setting

Characters

Story

Development

References and in-jokes

Reception and criticism

References

Gameplay

''LeChuck's Revenge'' plays like most SCUMM-based point-and-click adventure games. Actions and dialogues are depicted on an Animation Window which covers the top of the screen; verbal commands are listed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, while Inventory items are shown as icons on the lower right-hand corner. A Sentence Line is located below the Animation Window and serves in describing the actions of the player.^[1]
The game was also the first adventure game which offered the player two levels of puzzle difficulty. In some versions, before starting the game, the player is prompted to choose between regular MI2 and "Monkey 2 Lite", a relatively stripped-down experience which bypasses many puzzles entirely. On the back of the game's packaging, it is (jokingly) stated that this mode is intended for video game reviewers. This choice of difficulty returned in ''The Curse of Monkey Island'' (CMI), the third game of the series. CMI's alternative option is called "Mega-Monkey", and is the opposite of "Monkey 2 Lite", offering some additional puzzles, dialog and items over the normal game.

Plot

Setting

''LeChuck's Revenge'' is set in the fictional Tri-Island Area of the Caribbean, several months after ''The Secret of Monkey Island''.^[2] The game opens in media res as Guybrush Threepwood hangs on a rope above a hole, narrating to Elaine Marley on a separate rope the events that led to this situation.² The flashback sequence starts on Scabb Island and constitutes most of the playable game's setting. During it, Guybrush also visits Phatt Island, Booty Island, and Dinky Island, voyaging on two different pirate ships.

Characters

Some of the notable characters include:

★ 'Guybrush Threepwood:' The Protagonist, a mighty pirate and thrill-seeker.

★ 'Elaine Marley:' Governess of Booty Island and Guybrush's love interest.

★ 'The Evil Ghost Pirate LeChuck:' The antagonist, Guybrush's sworn enemy.

★ 'Largo LaGrande:' LeChuck's old first mate whom Guybrush must overcome.

★ '"The Voodoo Lady:"' A mystical woman who assists Guybrush on his journey.

★ 'Wally B. Feed:' An eccentric mapmaker.

Story

Guybrush's story begins with him talking to two pirates and telling them about the time he defeated LeChuck.¹ He further tells them that he's looking for the treasure of "Big Whoop", and for a ship to take him there.^[3] The pirates tell Guybrush that Largo LaGrande, LeChuck's ex-henchman, has placed an embargo on the island. Guybrush, with the voodoo-doll that Voodoo Lady gives him, defeats Largo. However, in trying to prove that he was the one who killed LeChuck, Guybrush makes the mistake of showing Largo that he has LeChuck's beard. Largo steals the beard and uses it to resurrect his old patron. After the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush that "the only way to stop LeChuck now lies only in the secret of Big Whoop", Guybrush continues his quest in search of this treasure.
After a lengthy quest involving everything from library research to a spitting contest, Guybrush is able to reconstruct the long-hidden map of Dinky Island, pinpointing the location of Big Whoop. He loses the map to LeChuck, but lands on Dinky anyway, where he discovers Herman Toothrot teaching philosophy. Herman is typically unhelpful, but his parrot remembers the conversation between the sailors who originally discovered Big Whoop and guides Guybrush to the treasure's burial site in exchange for crackers. Guybrush excavates the site and lowers himself into the ground on a rope.
At this point, we come back to the scene where we saw in the overture, Elaine and Guybrush talking. Unfortunately for Guybrush, his rope snaps and he falls into a series of artificial tunnels. LeChuck confronts Guybrush, claiming to be the mighty pirate's brother, and stalks him through the tunnels, tormenting him with a voodoo doll. Running from LeChuck, Guybrush makes a number of surprising (more so for us than him) discoveries, including the skeletal remains of his parents, an elevator to Mêlée Island, and the infrastructure for an amusement park.
By taking advantage of his surroundings, Guybrush is able to construct a voodoo doll of LeChuck, and maims the zombie pirate. LeChuck begs Guybrush to take his mask off; Guybrush acquiesces, revealing the face of his brother, "Chuckie". The reunion of the two "brothers" is interrupted by a man in brown coveralls, not unlike the delivery crew in Acts II and III, telling them that kids are not allowed "down here." The two brothers, now both appearing as children, exit the tunnels together and meet their parents aboveground in the "Big Whoop" amusement park. As the family leaves to ride the Madly Rotating Buccaneer, Chuckie turns towards the screen and grins, voodoo magic playing over his eyes. The last in-game screen shows Elaine standing outside Big Whoop excavation site, wondering, "What could be keeping Guybrush? I hope LeChuck hasn't put some sort of SPELL over him .... "

Development

The project leader and designer was Ron Gilbert. The development team for the game was largely the same as for ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', and Gilbert was once more joined by Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. Gilbert parted ways with LucasArts after ''Monkey Island 2'', while Grossman would go on to co-design ''Day of the Tentacle''. Schafer's future projects for LucasArts would include ''Full Throttle'' and ''Grim Fandango''.
According to Ron Gilbert, the Monkey Island series was partially inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Monkey Island 2 features a number of tributes to it, particularly a scene with a guard dog in a prison being lured by a bone and Disneyland style underground tunnels and "E Tickets" in the closing scenes. An even greater influence was the 1988 Tim Powers book On Stranger Tides.^[4]
The game was released on floppy disks for the PC (with VGA graphics), Macintosh and Amiga (with standard 32-color graphics) in 1991, and was later included on a CD-ROM compilation of ''Monkey Island'' games. Plans to release ''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge'' for the Sega CD were scrapped after the Sega CD edition of ''The Secret of Monkey Island'' did not sell well. In 1994, the game was released on the FM Towns, the last title LucasArts ever published on that system. The game's graphic interface would later be adapted for the CD-ROM release of The Secret of Monkey Island.
''LeChuck's Revenge'' was the first game to use LucasArts' iMUSE audio engine. All the tunes are in MIDI.^[5]

References and in-jokes

The game contains numerous references to various pop-culture phenomenons. In the game, the gull from the LucasArts game ''Loom'' makes an appearance once again and is mentioned in the credits. In a reference to the movie ''Back to the Future's character Doc Brown, Elaine yells "Great Scott!" when Guybrush blows the entrance to Big Whoop up with dynamite.
LucasArts founder George Lucas' Indiana Jones is referenced heavily through the game. Quoting Indiana Jones, Guybrush mentions how he hates snakes upon climbing out of the crate he hides in to get to LeChuck's fortress. In another reference to Indiana Jones, when Guybrush swaps two books, he weighs them both, and takes some pages off the replacement book, mimicking the idol and sand scene that opens the movie ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''. Another occurs just after Guybrush enters the Big Whoop burial site. Finding himself on a platform opposite the one with the treasure he uses a rope & crowbar to swing to the one on which it is held. As he swings the familiar Indiana Jones tune can be heard. There is also a book in the Phatt Island library called "X Never Marks the Spot" by Indiana Jones. Also, the minor game character Kate Capsize could be named after Kate Capshaw, the leading actress in the movie ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''.
Similar to ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', the game contains a faux-death easter egg. Guybrush can supposedly die by being lowered into a pit of acid. This results in a logical impossibility since, as we are then reminded, he is relating the story to Elaine in the past tense. Elaine points out this paradox and Guybrush backtracks, subsequently bringing the player back to the beginning of the acid pit scene.

Reception and criticism

After the success of The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge was highly anticipated. Amiga Power called it the most eagerly awaited game of 1992. Preview of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Amiga Power staff When the game was released, it received consistently high reviews for all versions, 95% from Amiga Computing for the Amiga version, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Review Daniel of Amiga Computing 96% from Computer and Video Games for the IBM PC version. Monkey Island II Review Rand, Paul. Boone, Tim When Kixx XL rereleased Monkey Island 2 as a budget game, the reviews remained high getting 91% from CU Amiga. Monkey Island 2 Rerelease Review CU Amiga staff The game is still considered very high quality with contemporary reviewers scoring the game highly.^[6] Monkey Island 2 is often cited as one of the greats in the point and click genre,^[7] which stands up well against modern adventure game titles. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge review Linkola, Joonas
''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge'' was rated highly for several reasons. The game is considered user friendly as it has a "lite" mode. This allowed beginners to play the game at an easier setting. The overall difficulty of both modes is also considered to be good. The redesign in controls, such as the fewer verbs and graphical inventory were rated well as increasing the game's ease of use.
Music in ''Monkey Island 2'' was noted for its use of the iMuse system. Reviewers noted that for the first time the sound is an integral part of the atmosphere. Graphically, the game was considered an improvement over its predecessor, with reviewers very impressed.
It's also noted by critics that the developers of Monkey Island 2 made using the 11 floppy disks the game came on relatively smooth, but also noted that installing the game on a hard drive is recommended.

References

1. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Manual, Judith Lucero, , , Lucasfilm Games, 1991,
2. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Manual, Judith Lucero, , , Lucasfilm Games, 1991,
3.
4. On Stranger Tides Ron Gilbert
5. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Mixnmojo staff
6. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Hall of Fame Review Murphy, Mark
7. Point and click Howson, Greg